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Newt Gingrich: Worthy charity of the month

During the holiday season, our thoughts turn to our family, friends, and those in need. In this spirit, we are pleased to announce that our December Charity of the Month is Catholic Charities USA, in recognition of its outstanding commitment to helping the neediest Americans.

Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) was formed in 1910 to act as the “attorney for the poor.” Today, it has grown to become one of the nation’s largest providers of social services. Catholic Charities maintains an extraordinary range of programs and provides food, shelter, clothing, counseling, financial assistance, adoption services, disaster relief, and other emergency services to approximately 10 million people each year.

Catholic Charities’ goal is to cut poverty in America in half by the year 2020. Its programs are community-based and rooted in market principles, careful measurement of results, and on working with individuals to foster greater opportunity and self-sufficiency. These initiatives focus on the very basics that every family needs in order to have a chance to thrive. Catholic Charities’ housing network, for example, provides shelter to more than half a million people.

More than 40.6 million Americans are living in poverty this holiday season, and many more are struggling to make ends meet. Children bear a disproportionate share of this hardship. Today, 18 percent of children in the United States under the age of 18 are growing up in poverty. Catholic Charities is working to make this burden a little easier and to make a difference in the lives of millions.